Disclaimer: I do not own the Elder Scrolls. I do not own Cyrodiil or nearly everything else related to the setting of this fanfic. All of that is the property of Bethesda. I do own the original characters described herein, except for Broken-Tail. Broken-Tail is the property of Okamifox.
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Chapter 3 – Across the Veil
The room was a room for men; there was no question about that. The deep gray stone walls were lined with trophies. Flanking the huge stuffed minotaur head were several creatures whose fleshy domes were dwarfed by the massive bull, including the likes of trolls, ogres, and the occasional wolf. Tapestries depicting bloody battles of the past hung down on the sides of the two doorways that formed the room's entrances. One led into a hallway that, in turn, led to the Great Hall of the castle and the dungeon, and the other led outside into the courtyard. The table was made of hard oak, cut and formed by a traveling woodworker in return for the count's hospitality. The same woodworker made each of the several chairs surrounding it, and the new furniture, while nice, did not seem fit for the count. He accepted the gifts graciously and had them put into the barracks, where they would be of more use. They were in definite need of an upgrade in that department.
Three of the guards were sitting at one end of the table, engaged in quiet gossip. Two of them had removed their armor and had retired from their shift for the day, and were partaking of a dinner of tomatoes and venison. Bottles of mead sat open in front of them, from the stash they had found hidden inside a crate behind the arena that day. The armored guard was avoiding duty. His day had not been pleasant.
"Have some mead, Raccan," one of the men, an Imperial, offered his Redguard companion. The Redguard waved his hand as if to refuse, but the other Imperial pushed it closer to him. The one called Raccan glared evilly at the speaker, a young man named Reberio. He smiled awkwardly, to show his good intent. It was his third day on the watch, and he had not yet gotten used to Raccan's perpetual mood swings. Slowly, the dark-skinned Redguard swept up the silver mug they had offered him and took a swig of the sweet substance. When he set it down, they continued their conversation.
"I'm telling you, Reberio, Boldon's daughter ran off with the heir to Count Ormellius Goldwine's throne!"
"And I'm telling you, Caius, that the count does not even have a wife!"
"You don't need to be married to have a child, Reb,"
"The count has to. And besides, Boldon's daughter might not even exist,"
"You know, you don't really seem to believe a lot of things exist. When you first got here…what, a week ago? You thought the minotaur was a fake!"
"I'm sorry, it doesn't look real to me!"
"Look, whatever. This isn't important. I'm getting sloshed tonight,"
"Easy. I heard about what happened last time you got drunk,"
"I swear to you, that wood elf was the prettiest damn woman I ever saw that night,"
"You were REALLY drunk then. I've seen that bitch around, and believe me, she ain't a sight for sore eyes,"
"Raccan, drink up,"
"On duty," the Redguard growled, adjusting the bandana over his sunburned brow. Reberio and Caius now watched their friend closely. Something about him was different. Very different. He seemed angry, yes, but he was always angry. He had a look about his eyes that made things seem very strange, as though there were an elephant in the room and he was truly the only one who had noticed it. At the thought, Caius glanced over his shoulder, seeing nothing but the eternal scrunched up war face of the minotaur head.
"Something's really different about you today, Raccan. What's up?" Reberio asked. The Redguard's stony expression faltered for merely a second, but it was long enough for both of the Imperials to have noticed. In the brief space of time that Raccan had let his guard down, his facial muscles had pulled his lips into a wide smile.
"I knew it!" Reberio said, drinking from his mug, "What did you do?"
"You remember Catia?" the Redguard smirked, no longer hiding behind the false impression of angst. This brief happiness was the mood the two Imperials preferred him in. He was really a nice guy, but his anger problem got to him far too often. Caius and Reberio looked at each other for a second, trying to put the name to a face in their minds. It clicked for them at the same time and their jaws dropped when Raccan showed them his hand. On the ring finger was a gold band.
"Congratulations, Raccan!"
"Raccan! You, of all people?"
"Me," he responded, unable to contain the powerful euphoria he was feeling. He stood up to hug Reberio and Caius as they came at him with their bare arms wide open. This was one of those events that rarely, if ever, happened. Raccan never hugged people. He was a stone cold warrior, the pride of the county. His Redguard blood made him this way. He had only two emotions: neutrality and anger. What he was showing now was neither.
"Have you set a date yet?" Reberio asked, patting the Redguard's armored back. The cool chainmail felt good on the Imperial's hot, sweaty hands and he started to back away from Raccan, to get a more complete look at the groom-to-be. Raccan shook his head and crossed his arms.
"We were planning a year from now, but with what's happened…"
"You mean the emperor,"
"Yes, we'll have to wait and see how Tamriel takes it before we can move forward with any big plans. You know the legends,"
"Yes, these are grim days,"
"What's that sound?"
The two turned to look at young Reberio, who was covering his ears, his face contorted with pain. He was doubled over on the table, and no matter how far he could push his fingers in, he could not filter out the horrid shrieking from his ears.
"Reb, you all right?" Caius asked, sidling up to the youngest member of the Watch, a worried expression taking the place of the wondrous surprise of Raccan's engagement. Reberio slid off of the table and fell to the floor, panting and whimpering. He could not hear Caius repeated questions. "Are you all right? What the hell is the matter with you? Reberio, snap out of it!"
"By Akatosh, make that infernal noise stop! Fuck!" Reberio cried. A few other guards had taken notice and had joined Caius at Reberio's sides, trying unsuccessfully to come up with a diagnosis in their heads.
It was then that they heard a huge explosion outside the castle, the familiar bursts and crackles of Destruction magic resounding in the barracks. Several of the guards who had come to help Reberio immediately rushed for the door leading to the courtyard, drawing their weapons as they did so. Caius and Raccan stood and watched for a moment, and then Caius left Reberio's side to suit up. Something big was going down, and they all had a dreadful feeling that they were going to need a lot of help. Reberio stopped crying out and pulled his fingers out of his ears, a deep red fluid pouring out from one side. He turned and looked as the first guard raised his foot to kick open the barracks door, the foot connecting with a powerful wham-
No sooner had the door flown open that a massive dark shape pounced from the twilight and landed on top of the guard. At first glance, it was a woman, pale skinned and with dark, devilish hair styled into a pointed curl at the top. She opened her mouth and hissed, and suddenly Reberio went into convulsions again, the high-pitched squeal the woman was releasing now audible to everyone, though in different degrees. To Raccan, it was a minor annoyance, but it angered him. He felt the adrenaline begin pumping into his blood and rushed at the woman, before he realized that it wasn't a woman, and that there were more. Several more. Each one looked nearly identical to the first, but with the multitudes pouring in through the door, Raccan could now see their lower halves. Instead of legs, the women had bulbous black abdomens with red markings. He could not count how many spidery tendrils he saw, for they moved far too fast for his eyes to keep up with.
He knew not what they were, what they wanted, or why they were there. All that mattered was that they were going to die. Raccan pushed off of the ground and flew into the air, his mighty legs forcing him up as he raised his sword over his head and brought it down hard on the spider woman attacking the guard. She had her mouth open, preparing to feed on the man, pinned down by as many as eight legs. The shining blade turned an ichory black as her severed abdomen fell to the ground, spewing acidic blood. The guard crawled out from under her body and started fighting off the other spiders as Caius flew into the fray, his special-occasions-only Elven Claymore glowing as he ran. Reberio still could not move. Their shrieks were affecting him the most.
"Get the fuck away from the door, men!" screamed a feminine voice from behind. Raccan cheated a glance backward before swinging his iron blade again, cutting another of the putrid creatures in half. A tall woman stood in the doorway, definitely an Altmer. Given that there was only one Altmer woman working in the castle, it had to be Ardarayna.
"I said move it! Raccan, Caius, all of you, move! Get Reberio out of the way!"
The spider women noticed her yelling and almost immediately shifted targets from the guards to her. She raised her arm into the air and her fingertips crackled with electricity. A bolt shot out and passed through three of the spiders, killing them instantly, their bodies tumbling to the floor, the forces of gravity and inertia tangling them together. Only six remained.
Raccan and Caius grabbed Reberio by the loops his arms made while he was covering his ears and dragged him away from a spider that was trying to latch onto him. She looked at Raccan evilly and coughed in his direction before raising her front legs in a defiant stance. A bolt hit her in the side of the head, and she slumped over, dead.
The guards had all moved to the right side of the room, while the spiders pursued Ardarayna on the left. She lifted her other hand and her eyes glowed red for a second, and a huge fireball flew from her palm and seared a hole through the line of spiders hunting her. The first two were killed, while the last three were severely burned. The High Elf walked up to each one individually and stomped on their heads. The shrieks stopped and Reberio collapsed with relief, his breaths short and shallow.
"Thank you, Arda-"
"Get the fuck outside, knave! We're under attack!"
"By what, madam?"
"I have no idea! Get outside and fight! The Count is safe in the castle!"
"Affirmative, ma'am," Raccan said, and he motioned for the Imperials to follow him through the door.
They emerged on a small ledge overlooking the center of town. In the distance, the city gates were sliding open ever so slowly. The soldiers stood in awe of what they saw on the other side. A group of men in shining black and red armor were standing on the sides, and in between them, two gleaming, spiked posts, not unlike a terrifying root, shot out of the dirt and met with each other in midair. A fire erupted inside, stretching the length from the top of the arch made by the roots and the ground. And from within the fire marched more of the spider women. Behind them came ranks of lizard-like creatures, some tall and bulky with a flap of skin hanging from their throats, others short and swift with plates to protect their necks. And still, following them were huge things, with bodies like men, but the heads of beasts, carrying warhammers and axes in their massive hands. Weapons such as theirs would take the strongest warriors to wield, and yet they were able to hold them in one hand.
"Soldiers, move it! Don't just stand there like the fucking idiots you are, get down there and kill something!" Ardarayna demanded, and she took her post at the edge of a stone outcropping a few feet down the ledge from the group. Her fingers glowed pulses of blue and red as she started firing futile magic at the enemy army.
"Caius, Reberio, this way!" Raccan ordered, his gruff voice carrying over the cries of the dying town. The Redguard and his Imperial troop rushed down the hillside and set their destination for the chapel. It was the only building not yet under attack, and Raccan could see groups of people – men, women, children – peering out through their doors, looking for a safe opportunity to make a mad dash for the church for…what?
To pray to Akatosh, I would hope. Gods give me strength.
"Honey, no!" Raccan heard a woman scream from the shadows of the doorway of a house to his right. He looked over and saw a young boy rushing from the darkness, his eyes set on the church, his mother emerging from inside the home to reclaim him. Raccan watched in horror as a train wreck unfolded before him. One of the quick monsters with the shielded neck leapt from the roof of the home and landed in front of the boy, who screamed and backed away as the lizard nibbled at his heels. Raccan jumped in between the horrid creature and the mortified child and raised his blade up high, bringing it down hard on the extended arm that the monster wished to tear Raccan's skin away with. It screeched as the bloodied stump spurted vital liquids and fell to the ground as Raccan's blade dug deep into the rough hide at the base of its skull. Caius and Reberio quickly joined Raccan in aiding the child.
"Reb, take him back inside the house! I'm going to secure-"
"No!" they heard from inside, the same woman who had beckoned her child back inside. When the three soldiers turned around, it was too late to do anything to help the poor boy. An eight-foot, midnight blue-skinned man stood in his place, the head of his warhammer replacing what should have been the young boy's head. Brains and blood were smeared all over the sidewalk.
"You fucking bastard!" Raccan roared at the massive man, and the three soldiers started swinging their swords in a flurry of rage. The boy had died right behind them, and they had not done a damn thing to save him. The creature spewed blood from a throat wound inflicted by the enraged Raccan and collapsed in a heap on top of the boy's body. His mother ran crying out of the home and tried to drag his body out, but it was in vain. Raccan pushed the woman away and demanded that she run for the chapel.
"There's no time, this whole city's burning to the ground! Get to the chapel, it's the only safe place!"
Yet he could not promise her that. True, the Divines seemed to be keeping the monsters away from the chapel, but how long would that last?
"Raccan, look!" Caius said, and he pointed toward the town plaza. The men in black and red armor were standing in a circle at one edge of the plaza. Almost at once, more of the putrid black roots shot out of the ground and joined in an arc in midair. A fiery portal appeared there as well, and out of it poured hundreds more monsters. And on the other side of the plaza, another group had made themselves known with Conjuration magic. Skeletons and ghosts were terrorizing any and all citizens caught in that part of town. Another portal appeared.
The ground shook at the center point between the three portals tore open, revealing bubbling magma and growing red, dead looking plants around the edges. Two more roots, nearly ten times the thickness of the others came thrashing out from the plateau the city of Kvatch sat upon, and joining in midair, created a portal taller than the city walls.
"Fuck! Get in the chapel!" Reberio shouted as he ran away. Caius agreed wholeheartedly, turning on his heel and running in Reberio's direction. He looked back to see Raccan, running the other way. The wrong way.
"Raccan! Get your ass over here! Do you want to die?"
"I have to find Catia!"
Those were the final words Reberio and Caius heard from Raccan. They closed themselves inside the chapel undercroft and awaited their fate, praying to Akatosh to give them the strength they needed to survive.
Raccan hardly fought as he made his way to Catia's home. He knew the city well, and was able to use back alleys and second floor balconies to his advantage. He leapt like an acrobat, despite his heavy armor, but the sight that awaited him when he arrived on the west side of the city was grim.
Catia's home had been gutted, and fire poured out through the windows and doors. Smoke plumes ascended into the sky.
"Catia!" Raccan cried out, sliding down the hill in his boots to try and get to the house before she was consumed. But it was far too late. If she had been inside when the fire started, she was dead. Raccan pushed onward and stopped himself at her doorway, the scalding flames repelling him from entering.
As he leaned against an unburned support post, he heard a feral shriek from the side and looked to see a familiar creature. It was short and vaguely humanoid, with imp-like characteristics and sharp teeth.
"Die, scamp!" the Redguard commanded, and the scamp obeyed, its head rolling pathetically to the side as Raccan's iron blade hit it full force.
The ground quaked again, but this time, it wasn't the formation of one of the forsaken gates to a hellish realm. He looked back at the most massive portal and saw the circular face of a demonic machine. He then did the only thing he could think to do.
He ran.
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Notes: Before I forget, if you are wondering why Reberio could hear it at first and no one else can, think of the Mosquito ringtone. Only young people can hear it, unless you get close. Reberio is the youngest, so his ears are the most sensitive. Just FYI. This chapter isn't as long as Chapter 1, and that's because if it were I would probably never finish it. I don't know where my next chapter will take place. It may or may not involve Falx. I haven't decided. R&R, please?